Social media is the talk of the town. The pros and cons are debatable but it’s an undeniable fact that social media has taken over our lives. It’s how we choose to communicate and promote our brand and products. Companies have realized the importance of having a strong social media presence and most of them have accepted this reality to stay at par with their competitors. It gives them the chance to connect with their customers in a way that was simply not possible before. You now have the chance to reach out to prospective and existing clients while tapping away on your laptop.
Building the brand reputation and the wealth of opportunities prevalent isn’t the only way organizations are utilizing this tool; recruiters are using social media as a recruiting tool. 94% of recruiters use social media for recruiting purposes and 59% of the employees say that a company’s social media played a role in their decision to work there. All the top companies have a great social media presence and the statistics prove that it’s clearly working well for them. As a recruiter, learning to use social media effectively for recruitment is a must-have skill. It is achievable and doesn’t have to be an uphill task. You just have to be consistent and put in the effort. Here are a few tips to make your recruiting process simple and easy. Let’s dive right in!
What is Social Media Recruitment?
Social media recruitment is attracting, engaging, and hiring candidates through social media platforms by posting job openings and related content. It is one of the ways to recruit the best candidates for your company and is quite economical. Seeing that most of the top companies like Marriott, Dell, and Taco Bell are using social media as a major platform for hiring, it has motivated others to jump on the bandwagon. Social media makes it easier to filter the candidates and choose the ones that are a perfect fit for your organization in every way possible.
Build Your Company’s Online Reputation
It’s very important that your online presence projects who you are as an organization and that you maintain transparency about your values and beliefs. Just as you are looking for a perfect fit, the candidates also want to be sure that they are choosing the right company. Millennials want to work for companies that they ‘vibe’ with. It’s important to share content that showcases how your company is a great place to work! Upload videos and photos of the fun, interactive sessions conducted and the perks of working in such a place. Think of how you could be more like the companies that everyone wants to work at. Get inspired and let that reflect on your social media pages!
Most importantly, be consistent and stick to your values and beliefs. You want to make sure that you leave no room for misinterpretation. People want to feel that they identity with the company’s values and that it resonates with who they are. They will most likely decide that based on your social media presence. Focus on what makes you unique.
The Big Three- LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter
Statistics show that LinkedIn dominates with 87% of the recruiters using this platform followed by Facebook at 55% and Twitter at 47% . It only makes sense that strategizing around these platforms should be your first priority. Each of these social media platforms work best with different audiences and you should strategize accordingly. What works for one may not work for the other. Figure out what approach works best and run with it. There are other platforms to be explored like Instagram, Youtube, Moz, etc. Try and understand where your target audience is likely to be more active and engage with them.
Participation in LinkedIn groups is important. Being a part of the right groups will help you identify the top talent and influencers in your niche. Connecting with the right people will strengthen your reputation and attract skilled and competent candidates. Network with the experts and leaders in your industry. You cannot just send out a generalized message to everyone and call that good networking. Personalize it and appeal to their interests. This will help you better understand the interests of the professionals in your field and cater accordingly.
LinkedIn Pulse is another option to be explored. This allows you to publish articles on any topic. This will maximize your reach and help establish you as an influencer if published in the right groups. You can use platforms like Instagram to showcase your fun side and portray what working for your company would entail. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, a proverb that millennials give due importance to. Upload photos and videos of team building activities, corporate parties, events, to give a better idea of the work culture and the well-rounded development that you promote. Your employees are unconscious promoters of your brand so it’s important to show how enthusiastic and talented they are. Instagram allows you to be informal and creative. Promote your posts with the right hashtags.
Focus on Sharing Quality Content
Another sure way to build your reputation in the community is to post quality content that people find useful and are even driven to share. It can be blog posts, infographics, photos, videos, or podcasts. Content is king and you need to remember that unless you are sharing relevant content that captures the attention of the public, it might as well be spam. It’s not about what you would like to share, it’s about what your audience would like to know. Understanding your niche and figuring out the kind of content that they would be interested in is crucial. Look up stuff and interact with experts to know what’s trending. The content can be useful, interesting, or even humorous. Give people something share-worthy. It will build your reputation if you stand out in terms of content. Try to engage your readers. Start discussions. Make it a two-way street.
Get Your Employees to Help in Spreading the Message
One of the best ways to extend your reach is by getting your employees involved in the recruitment drive. The influence of personal recommendations should not be overlooked. Ask your employees to share your posts on their personal handles. It is one of the most efficient ways of attracting candidates, both active and passive. People are more likely to pay attention if it is recommended by someone they know or admire .
Use the Right Hashtags
Hashtags are quite useful on some social media like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. They increase the scope of your message and help categorize it. But it’s not quite as simple as putting a # before a word or phrase and calling it good marketing. The hashtag may seem very simple but it has its own rules to be followed if you want results. You should customize it to suit your target audience, otherwise it might get lost in the flood of hashtags used on a daily basis on these platforms.
The first step is to is to figure out the kind of hashtags that job seekers are following. These may be very generic and not specific to your industry. You don’t want it getting lost in a sea of posts also using the same hashtags. You need to narrow it down to be relevant to your post. If you can’t find any relevant ones, make up your own. Personalize them to make it unique and relevant. It’s important to not overdo it when it comes to hashtags. Focus on promoting one relevant, witty hashtag rather than a multitude of hashtags for each post. Even though these platforms encourage informal content, it doesn’t have to be unprofessional. Using too many hashtags make you seem like an overenthusiastic teenager.
Social media recruiting takes time and effort. You can’t expect it to be an overnight success. It won’t be. You need to plan and strategize and then work accordingly. Social media might just be one of the best ways to recruit candidates if you put in the work. Almost half of the recruiters using social media report that social media recruiting improved the quality and quantity of candidates. After all, the perfect fit is what matters the most. It also costs next to nothing. You need to remember that you can’t use a one-size-fits-all approach with different social media platforms. You need to experiment a little and figure out what works best for your company. Almost all the big organizations have nailed their social media recruiting strategy and those that haven’t have announced that they will in the near future. Don’t get left behind and jump on the bandwagon!